Bioabsorbable medical devices are widely used in the practice of modern medicine. For example, bioabsorbable stents are of continuing interest because they have the potential to provide the mechanical functions required of stents, while at the same time eliminating various long-term effects associated with biostable stents.
Current bioabsorbable polymeric devices, including bioabsorbable polymeric stents, generally suffer from recoil upon expansion. Without wishing to be bound by theory, it is believed that the recoil has both acute and chronic elements that are associated with the plastic deformation and subsequent residual stresses arising upon deployment from a collapsed to an expanded state in the body.